What if your daughter posed nude?

Steve Coruzzi poses an interesting question on the Good Men Project site in his article ‘I Would Not Be Proud if My Daughter Posed for Playboy‘. In the article, he describes listening to a radio show in Philly that featured a girl who will be Playboy’s Playmate of the month and hearing the woman say that her father was proud of her. As the article progresses, Steve tangles with the thought process he went through to determine he would not be a proud father if his daughter posed nude.

The article struck a nerve with me, and I added the following comment to his article:

As a younger man, I found Playboy and its ilk interesting, and regardless of what anyone says, it wasn’t for the articles. I never understood the expression “that girl is somebody’s daughter” then.

Now that I have a young daughter of my own, I no longer find those publications appealing. While I would still love my daughter unconditionally, support and protect her if that was the path she chose to travel, I would not be a proud father if she appeared in a magazine nude.

The litmus test for me is whether I would place any magazine she appeared in on a mantle beside photos of her as a baby and her academic, soccer and music achievements. I would proudly display copies of any scientific or literary journal she was published in as a contributor, but magazines in which she appeared nude would not make the cut.